Ausscheidender EU-Gesandter Peter Semneby äußert sich zu Georgien

21.02.2011 | Civil.ge | Link zur Quelle | Bilder | Video |

"Die nächsten Wahlen 2012/13 seien für die Reife der Demokratie in Georgien äußerst wichtig"
# 'Next elections crucial';
# 'Georgia is a better place now';
# 'Ruling party’s overwhelming dominance';
# Georgia’s regional role;
# Needs for 'qualitative change' in Russo-Georgian ties;
# On term 'occupied' – 'labeling not the most important'
Next elections, including parliamentary in 2012 and presidential in 2013, would be “crucial for the maturity of the Georgian democracy,” Peter Semneby, an outgoing EU’s Special Representative for South Caucasus, said on February 22 in Tbilisi.
“It is very important that the electoral legislature is agreed well beforehand [so] that it does not become part of the electoral campaign itself. Georgia needs to establish clear and stable rules of the game for the political competition between the parties,” Semneby said.
It was the Swedish diplomat’s last visit to Georgia in his capacity of the EU’s Special Representative, as his mandate on the post, which he held since 2006, expires on February 28.
The fate of the post is unclear yet as the discussions about the mandate of Special Representatives were still underway within EU, he said. “There certainly [will] be a gap before this discussion is concluded,” Semneby said.
Semneby, whose tenure coincided with Georgia’s several domestic political crises and the August war, said that it had been “a very challenging period” for Georgia.
“But I think Georgia is a better place now for many reasons, than it was in the beginning of my term in this job and not least thanks to the new stage that we have entered in relations between Georgia and the European Union with the start of negotiations on Association Agreement,” he said.
“I very strongly hope Georgia will take these negotiations [on Association Agreement] seriously and Georgia will approach these negotiations with diligence that they deserve, because it is in a close relations with EU that Georgia can find the best guarantees that are available for its sovereignty and security,” Semneby said.
Semneby, who acted for number of times as a facilitator between the Georgian authorities and the opposition during the internal political tensions, involving series of mass street protests in 2007-2009, said that those events “had ultimately healthy influence on the political discourse in general in Georgia.”
“They demonstrated by balancing on the brink, on many occasions, what limits are on the use of force as means in politics and I think Georgia is much healthier place after these events were successfully dealt with,” he said.
'Overwhelming Dominance of Ruling Party'
Semneby said that overwhelming dominance of the ruling National Movement Party in government branches was putting on the authorities a large degree of responsibility.
“The current governing party also needs to consider how it uses the overwhelming domination that it has at the moment – with the constitutional majority in the Parliament and control of all municipal councils in the country – in a responsible way in order to provide the oxygen for alternative political voices to be heard,” he said.
Asked to elaborate further on the issue, Semneby said that he was only making an observation that there was “quite an extraordinary situation” in Georgia with one political force being “in a very, very, exceptionally strong position” and “it puts a large degree of responsibility on the political force that has this kind of dominance.”
Georgia’s Regional Role and Russia
Semneby said that Georgia in many ways achieved progress that “goes beyond what has been achieved by other countries in the region.”
“It’s important to consider that for its international partners Georgia is important in regional context, not just by itself and Georgia therefore needs to make its own contribution to stability in this region,” he said.
“This also includes relations with Russia where we need to find way - Georgia’s partners are willing and I think able to help here – to do more in terms of improving those relations without compromising on existential positions, but nevertheless there needs to be a qualitative change in these relationships.”
“Realistically speaking it will take time to address all the conflict-related issues and in the meantime it will be necessary and important to improve and develop relations between Georgia and Russia even with such fundamental differences remaining,” Semneby said.
He said that apart of human aspect and restoring contacts between Russia and Georgia on “personal level”, there were “lots of practical issues” that needed to be dealt, including the one related to trade.
“If there is development of Georgian-Russian relations in a broader sense it may – I say ‘may’, it’s not absolutely certain that it would be the case – also improve conditions for resolving very difficult political issues that still remain between the two countries,” he said.
Abkhazia, S.Ossetia
Semneby, who has been involved in developing EU’s “engagement without recognition” approach towards Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, said that EU had “much more extensive and much more intensive” interaction with Sokhumi, than with Tskhinvali.
He said he had extensive discussions both in Tbilisi and Sokhumi about where the greatest opportunities for engagement were and “I would say that the area of healthcare would provide important opportunities for further engagement.”
Semneby said that many of the aspects of Tbilisi’s approach were mirroring those of the EU.
“We have welcomed many of the initiatives taken by the Georgian government and in particular the Action Plan” for Engagement, Semneby said referring to a document which was approved by the Georgian government in July, 2010 and which lays out steps for implementing goals outlined in Tbilisi’s Strategy on Occupied Territories.
“We believe it [the Action Plan for Engagement] contains very many interesting intentions that clearly mirror priorities and views of the European Union… We are obviously ready to make a contribution to supporting those parts of Georgian plan that are in line with our own policies and convictions,” Semneby said.
He said that Georgia needed international partners in order to facilitate reconciliation. “Georgia also needs to trust its international partners in this endeavor,” Semneby added.
Asked about his shunning away from using term “occupied territories” in reference to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Semneby said: “Labeling here is not the most important issue.”
“The fact is that we have conflict situation that needs to be dealt with in such a way that we ensure that certain objectives are fulfilled. We should focus on tasks here to rebuild contacts across the confrontation lines, we should address the humanitarian issues, security-related issues including fulfillment of the agreements that entered in August and September 2008,” he said.

Stichworte: Georgien, Abchasien, Süd-Ossetien, Russland Sprache: englisch, Archiv: #